The 2023 Cat Lineup...

[Ziemann]

I will say that I saw my first Blast last week while riding around home here in NW WI. I guess that's something positive for them.....

 

 

[p51mstg]

38 minutes ago, Ziemann said:

I will say that I saw my first Blast last week while riding around home here in NW WI. I guess that's something positive for them.....

 

 

I saw my first one in the wild last weekend, as well.  Gave the rider a 👍.

I’ve ridden them and the ZR reminded me of the good old days without any of the bad old days.  Exactly how I remember snowmobiling as a kid.  I felt younger.  For that, I think they did a good job.  The controls are a little on the cheap side, and the power was a bit underwhelming for a “full sized” adult, but I think they have potential.  Not for me, but I think there is a signifcantly-sized forgotten segment of potential customers that might be attracted to them, if they actually saw them.  Unfortunately, while I’ve heard that they sold well, last weekend was the first time I saw one since the demo rides almost exactly 2 years ago.

To be completely honest, I feel like snowmobile manufacturers have historically been the most isolated from consumers of any type of product.  People flock to them, they don’t have to chase consumers.  What we’ve seen with Polaris and Ski Doo in the last decade (maybe longer, not sure) is a reversal, and their “ambassador” program is one indication of that.  They’re listening, for a change.  Maybe not as much as we’d like, but they are taking what consumers talk about and putting that in future models, and that’s a good sign.

Many dealers haven’t gotten the memo, but I think the original arch rivals on opposite sides of the border have.

Arctic Cat has not done that.  They seem to be listening only to themselves.  I realize racers provide a lot of feedback, and that goes for all brands.  But, there doesn’t seem to be a mechanism or culture in place to take feedback from actual consumers and turn that into ideas on a drawing board.  I think, especially as the original idea people leave the organization, that’s a mistake.

We can certainly blame Textron.  I have been a pawn in big corporate acquisitions and subsequent sales, and I can only imagine what the loyal Cat people are going through inside the company.  Nobody is going to get current or former employees to talk about it on the record.

I’m not going to judge and I’m not going to pretend I can read minds.  However, if I had to guess I’d say the owners of Arctic Cat use metrics that reward for achieving arbitrary numeric-based goals not making customers happy.  That would explain why Cat seems cut off from the outside world (in my opinion).

I have an open mind and am still thinking positively about the future of Arctic Cat.  It has been my experience that people succeed, not because of superior leadership, but in spite of inferior leadership.  I believe there are people at Cat who can overcome the ineptitude at Textron.  It would make my day to see them make the 61st anniversary more special than the 60th.

[Doug]

46 minutes ago, p51mstg said:

I saw my first one in the wild last weekend, as well.  Gave the rider a 👍.

I’ve ridden them and the ZR reminded me of the good old days without any of the bad old days.  Exactly how I remember snowmobiling as a kid.  I felt younger.  For that, I think they did a good job.  The controls are a little on the cheap side, and the power was a bit underwhelming for a “full sized” adult, but I think they have potential.  Not for me, but I think there is a signifcantly-sized forgotten segment of potential customers that might be attracted to them, if they actually saw them.  Unfortunately, while I’ve heard that they sold well, last weekend was the first time I saw one since the demo rides almost exactly 2 years ago.

To be completely honest, I feel like snowmobile manufacturers have historically been the most isolated from consumers of any type of product.  People flock to them, they don’t have to chase consumers.  What we’ve seen with Polaris and Ski Doo in the last decade (maybe longer, not sure) is a reversal, and their “ambassador” program is one indication of that.  They’re listening, for a change.  Maybe not as much as we’d like, but they are taking what consumers talk about and putting that in future models, and that’s a good sign.

Many dealers haven’t gotten the memo, but I think the original arch rivals on opposite sides of the border have.

Arctic Cat has not done that.  They seem to be listening only to themselves.  I realize racers provide a lot of feedback, and that goes for all brands.  But, there doesn’t seem to be a mechanism or culture in place to take feedback from actual consumers and turn that into ideas on a drawing board.  I think, especially as the original idea people leave the organization, that’s a mistake.

We can certainly blame Textron.  I have been a pawn in big corporate acquisitions and subsequent sales, and I can only imagine what the loyal Cat people are going through inside the company.  Nobody is going to get current or former employees to talk about it on the record.

I’m not going to judge and I’m not going to pretend I can read minds.  However, if I had to guess I’d say the owners of Arctic Cat use metrics that reward for achieving arbitrary numeric-based goals not making customers happy.  That would explain why Cat seems cut off from the outside world (in my opinion).

I have an open mind and am still thinking positively about the future of Arctic Cat.  It has been my experience that people succeed, not because of superior leadership, but in spite of inferior leadership.  I believe there are people at Cat who can overcome the ineptitude at Textron.  It would make my day to see them make the 61st anniversary more special than the 60th.

Good write up.  Still hope Arctic Cat does come out with something new that their loyal customers want to buy.  This is not Textron's first go around with a snowmobile manufacturer.  The first time they drained what they could out of the product.  Only after they sold it did that product excel into a billion dollar company on it own.  It will be interesting how Textron moves forward with Arctic Cat.

[Boonbocker1]

Cat must be laughing their asses off about now.  With the mediocre at best product launch poo and doo just had, cat won't even need to do anything other than build last years sleds and they will be pulling new buyers from those other 2 brands.

 

[Guest]

Read on Facebook that Cat's coming out with a new twin rail Alpha 

[Boonbocker1]

9 minutes ago, HSR said:

Read on Facebook that Cat's coming out with a new twin rail Alpha 

If they do that and maybe a trick tunnel solution with accessories like linq or lock and ride flex its game over for doo. 

[p51mstg]

Good thing I "work" from home, because I just laughed out loud.

[Crnr2Crnr]

If they're bringing something, anything... why wait until the end of March and give BRP & Polaris more time to show folks what they're bringing to the table? 

Either they've got nuthin, or they're more incompetent than I thought.

[Palu49]

1 minute ago, Crnr2Crnr said:

If they're bringing something, anything... why wait until the end of March and give BRP & Polaris more time to show folks what they're bringing to the table? 

Either they've got nuthin, or they're more incompetent than I thought.

[p51mstg]

1 minute ago, Crnr2Crnr said:

If they're bringing something, anything... why wait until the end of March and give BRP & Polaris more time to show folks what they're bringing to the table? 

Either they've got nuthin, or they're more incompetent than I thought.

It's kinda heartbreaking.  Part of me says it doesn't matter what they do at this point, all they can hope for is to pick up the loose change and uneaten popcorn after the show is over and the audience leaves.  On the other hand, the optimist on my shoulder is saying that this might be the smart play, because of all the people who wanted to order but couldn't.  They have to be willing to gamble that there will be enough people still wanting to spring order that they can fill a year's-worth of production.  It's a little higher stakes than I would take for a company that really can't afford to lose at this point.  And so my optimistic view contains more risk than I'm comfortable with.

Just for shits and giggles, however....

Here's another thought:  What if the delay is due to some kind of negotiation?  Let's say there's a huge deal on the table that would rebrand or at least change the image of Arctic Cat as a snowmobile manufacturer?  What if they're gambling, not on buyers of snowmobiles, but on this unknown/unseen deal?  In my line of work, Sales is always working on their "pipeline", and they rank these potential deals in order of likelihood of closing.  The ones most likely to close are considered almost as good as those agreements already signed.  What if they're waiting for one of those kinds of deals to be signed, either from an actual sales perspective or an acquisition perspective?

[800renegaderider]

I predict a bold new color of red oxide primer the gray is out or the more likely option out of business

[Boonbocker1]

Cat needs to just update the marketing material from the 2012 launch a bit, send it via USPS to the few hundred loyal customers and handful of dealers they have, then sit back and collect cash like nobodys business.  They could pre print stacks of order forms to have on hand at the dealerships too for the ultimate experience in pre order ease. 

[jdsky]

If April 1st is not a joke that would be the single most idiotic thing Cat could do this year.  Both Poo and Doo snow checks will be closed and everyone that wants to order for next season will already have their deposit down and as everyone already knows, this includes more Cat fans jumping ship.  I highly doubt buyers of Doo and Poo are going to wait and even if both manu's run out of snow checks these are not buyers of anything new coming from textron, specifically a first year unproven anything. 

I do remember the fans crowing about how the November launch and early snow check program was a stroke of pure genius.  It worked so great they are now dead last to the table.  The only hope is there are enough cat fanatics on super old iron that something, anything new with a cat sticker on it could bring them out of the woodwork....

Edited March 1, 2022 by jdsky

[Crnr2Crnr]

My fortune cookie from lunch had a suggestion for anyone waiting for something new and exciting from Textron.

[ZR6000RR]

For such an old, outdated chassis, they took home 12 of 19 classes at the Cores race last weekend. Glad I bought a 22!

[Guest]

19 hours ago, ZR6000RR said:

 People buy sleds to trail ride. Well normal folk. 

 

38 minutes ago, ZR6000RR said:

For such an old, outdated chassis, they took home 12 of 19 classes at the Cores race last weekend. Glad I bought a 22!

Who cares??? normal folk buy sleds to trail ride,,not race.

[Doug]

31 minutes ago, HSR said:

 

Who cares??? normal folk buy sleds to trail ride,,not race.

Bipolar seems to be the issue.  Must be off his meds again.

[Deephaven]

2 hours ago, ZR6000RR said:

For such an old, outdated chassis, they took home 12 of 19 classes at the Cores race last weekend. Glad I bought a 22!

 

1 hour ago, HSR said:

 

Who cares??? normal folk buy sleds to trail ride,,not race.

Yep...in particularly the pussy above that hasn't broken 80 yet this year.  Poor sap is going to HATE the RR shocks.

[Crnr2Crnr]

1 hour ago, Doug said:

Bipolar seems to be the issue.  Must be off his meds again.

idk, seems fairly polar from where I'm standing

but I am not a trained accredited psychologist, I just play one on the internet 

[ZR6000RR]

1 hour ago, HSR said:

 

Who cares??? normal folk buy sleds to trail ride,,not race.

Just pointing out how the Outdated Cat Pro Cross cant only win, but dominate. Now I suppose it will be the racer. Kind of the off brands excuse. Well they have the budget so what is happening? Need a Turbo or 50 cc's to compete? 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, ZR6000RR said:

Just pointing out how the Outdated Cat Pro Cross cant only win, but dominate. Now I suppose it will be the racer. Kind of the off brands excuse. Well they have the budget so what is happening? Need a Turbo or 50 cc's to compete? 

So they dominated an all Arctic Cat race but still managed to dnf or not have a qualified sled for 7 classes ,,,gotcha!!!

[ZR6000RR]

Just now, HSR said:

So they dominated an all Arctic Cat race but still managed to dnf or not have a qualified sled for 7 classes ,,,gotcha!!!

It is Core power sports. Even Polaris competes there HSR. You off your meds again?

[ZR6000RR]

1 minute ago, HSR said:

So they dominated an all Arctic Cat race but still managed to dnf or not have a qualified sled for 7 classes ,,,gotcha!!!

Maybe use Google before you type. Makes you look like less of an idiot. Just pointing it out there for ya. All Cat race? This guy is Bypolar! God this is so fucking fun!

[p51mstg]

3 minutes ago, ZR6000RR said:

Maybe use Google before you type. Makes you look like less of an idiot. Just pointing it out there for ya. All Cat race? This guy is Bypolar! God this is so fucking fun!

Psssst...   "bipolar"

[ZR6000RR]

1 minute ago, p51mstg said:

Psssst...   "bipolar"

Spelling is not my thing. He got the Gist!